Hammer
NOTE: This is about the wrestler. For the handler, contact tk90. Hammer (real name Hal Wokolski) is a retired Jewish American professional wrestler who has worked for several independent promotions across America, most recently Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment. He is best known for his unique wrestling styles, combining wrestling, kickboxing, martial arts, submissions, and streetfighting, along with his massive size, enabling him to have an enormous advantage during matches. However, he has had his fair share of losses as well. Because of his strength and innovation with weapons, he excels in hardcore matches, as well as submission matches, due to his proficient submission skills. Also giving a major in-ring advantage is Hammer's anger. If he gets angered at all, it can make him dangerous in the ring. He has caused some injuries because of this. He was born in Long Beach, California, but lived there for only 4 years. He moved to St. Louis at age 4 and lived there from then on. Past Federations NOTE: These do not include current federations. *Chevelle Championship Wrestling *ArenaWrestle *Wrestling Extreme Federation (briefly) *Brutal Championship Wrestling *UFN *Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment *World Wrestling Generation Before Wrestling Because of his massive size and muscle mass, Hammer has, for the most part, always been among the most respected among his peers. He grew up in a rough neighborhood in downtown St. Louis, although had no trouble with the locals, as they were friendly toward him, probably due to his size. In fact, Hammer learned many of his current fighting styles from gangsters. When Hammer attended high school, he was befriended by several students, making him among the most liked students. However, there would be an occasional punk who wanted to fight him, hoping to make a name for themself by taking down the biggest guy in school. Never one to initiate violence, he never agreed to fights, except for one occasion where his good friend Omar was attacked, a punk's attempt to get Hammer to fight. He quickly made an example of him the next day. Other than that, he never really took any physical action against another, except for when attacked, in which cases all he did was peel the attacker off, and in some cases, "throw" them aside. Hammer was, undoubtedly, the top sports star in his school, playing ice hockey, wrestling, and football, excelling in all of them. It was here that he earned the nickname "Hal the Hammer", and later, just "Hammer" because of his violent football tackles and hockey hits. Because of his desire to excel, he constantly worked out, even after he graduated high school, to stay in shape, not wanting to end up out-of-shape, as he desired to pursue an athletic career. After high school, he got a job with the rink his HS team played at. His first job was assistant to the event organizer, then being promoted to organizer himself. In his spare time, he put his bodybuilding and combat skills to the test and entered (and won) several bodybuilding, kickboxing, and martial arts competitions around his local St. Louis neighborhood, giving him a "tough guy" reputation around the city, as well as earning extra money. CCW: Making New Friends And Enemies After making a name for himself in the St. Louis combat underground circuits, his longtime friend Mike "Lightning" Marnin introduced Hammer to Chevelle Championship Wrestling, which Lightning himself was competing in at the time. Hammer joined, and started working almost immediately. Just as fast as he had entered, he had make a new enemy- Eric Norslee. The rivalry between the two spanned for weeks, before subsiding, because Hammer had decided to move on in his career. He wrestled fellow rookies as well as veterans such as J-Cool. In the process, he developed great respect toward CCW owner Cory Chevelle. Hammer's involvement in then-new organization ArenaWrestle slowed Hammer's work in CCW. CCW later ceased operations for reorganization, allowing Hammer to expand his career in AW. ArenaWrestle: With Great Success Comes Great Struggle Shortly after Hammer joined ArenaWrestle (AW), he immediately won the AW Hardcore Championship in a triple-threat match. He lost it the next week to Clearly, Hammer's second biggest rival. The rivalry lasted as long as Hammer has been in AW, and stil continues as of now. Hammer has never defeated him, but vowed to, to give Clearly "what he has coming to him," referring to his poor attitude to his fellow wrestlers. Hammer then went on to win the AW Tag-Team Championship with Mike Lightning and defend it for several weeks, before losing the titles after weeks of success. Hammer later went on to become one of AW's most prominent upper midcarders, winning the AW National Championship, defending it for one week before losing it. He also renewed his rivalry with #1 enemy Eric Norslee, defeating him in 2 out of the 3 matches they wrestled against each other in. Soon, AW was falling, but still running, as was Hammer. He was competing weekly, and on almost every pay-per-view event AW has ever run. When Hammer left AW to rejoin a new-and-improved CCW, Hammer was unable to become AW Champion, which was his goal. Some believed that had AW ran a bit longer, Hammer could have become champion. Return to CCW After Hammer left AW, CCW had greatly improved, showing a more intense style, better suiting Hammer's style. His rivalries with Clearly and Eric Norslee continued to a greater extent. His reign as CCW Revolutionary Champion showed everyone that he was no longer the second-rate dumb muscle that he was during his original CCW run. Hammer unified the Revolutionary Championship with the CCW American X Championship in a triple-threat match victory. CCW: Underground When CCW went underground, Hammer seemed to fit into the new style perfectly, competing weekly. After his first underground fight against Dan Sagara, Cory Chevelle, who Hammer respected greatly, praised Hammer for a job well done, and told Hammer to come to Cory if he needed anything, a sign that Hammer had gotten the attention of Chevelle. During Hammer's successful CCW underground run, he encountered his only injury to date, as he was stabbed in the upper leg during a match. Other than the injury, Hammer was a CCW mainstay throughout the time of the underground. However, CCW folded, again, leaving Hammer without a place to wrestle. BCW Hammer had a short reign in BCW, leaving after losing a "Losers leave BCW" tag-team match with Victor Vengeance. UFN: The Fall Of Hammer Hammer then joined UFN, although was unable to compete for the first 2 weeks, making UFN owner Chad Chevelle very angry. When Hammer finally returned, he was in a Revolutionary Championship match with Lynne, a female wrestler. Hammer, desperately wanting to wrestle again, defeated Lynne in violent fashion, thus winning the title. However, Hammer claimed that he had no intention to harm Lynne, and was ashamed of how he won the title, and abandoned it in one of UFN's more shocking (yet poorer) moments. Chad Chevelle was most displeased, and berated Hammer heavily. Subsequently, Chad booked a handicap match between himself and the team of Hammer and UFN Champion Michael Reece. During the match, Chad called upon Fatality and Tony Daniels to help him, and ended up brutally attacking Hammer and Reece. Hammer said that he never intended for this to happen, and that it was exactly what he wanted to avoid. He had revealed that he had lost all respect toward Chad, and considered him an enemy. He claimed that the rivalry between the two was far from over, and that they were "at war." In fact, Hammer tried to persuade some of his fellow wrestlers to join him to teach Chad a lesson. Unfortunately for Hammer, this didn't go so well. He had planned to recruit John Adelsberger and rival J-Cool. John got fired, and J-Cool angrily refused. Issues with faulty management got Hammer fired. However, roughly a year later, Hammer had burued the hatchet with Chad, apologizing, and is now at peace with him. UWE: Side Action After a long time of reuniting with his family and friends in St. Louis, Hammer got word from his good friend John Adelsberger that Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment was available, and Hammer took the chance right away. But Hammer encountered a problem- a 3-week losing streak as soon as he entered UWE. After losing for the third time straight, Hammer left, temporarily, for a weekend vacation. He has since returned. However, he announced his semi-retirement on August 5, 2007. WWG: A New Beginning, And End Hammer, just before leaving UWE, he joined World Wrestling Generation. He had little success, and quit for personal issues with other wrestlers. When asked to comment, Hammer simply replied, "If I'm gonna be mercilessly criticized and put down because of my in-ring ability (referring to his martial arts skill), and be insulted by that punk, and blame me for fighting back, then they can all kiss my a--. To hell with WWG's assholes! If they wanna kick me all this static, and can't accept me for me, I'm out." UWE: Return Hammer began his return to UWE on June 30, 2008, starting off by announcing his new manager, Edwin Yiu. Since his return, Hammer had made little progress since his last UWE stint, overwhelmingly expanding the loss count of his previous stint, and winning only 3 matches. Some say it was because he has lost confidence in himself, which Hammer tried to cover up by taking on a cool, relaxed, laid-back demeanor. His motives behind the demeanor were only rumours at the time, rumours that his manager believed to be true. As such, every week, Edwin had tried to get Hammer to open up about why he was so laid-back, suspicious it had something to do with something that happened in his past. Fans suspected Hammer's new demeanor could have been a result of his UFN mess. This was confirmed by Hammer after his manager kept pressing the issue on him. The last victory of his career was September 9. On December 2, 2008, he officially announced his retirement from UWE and from wrestling as a whole. Personal life Retiring from wrestling has allowed him to catch up on the job at the rink. He has since gone on to run the entire operation. It regularly hosts local high school hockey games, some college, and even regional championship playoff games. He has also had dealings with the St. Louis Bandits junior team. It has made him very successful financially, and gives him more time to see friends and family, given his usually light schedule( thanks to help from his hockey-buff friend and ex-manager, Edwin Yiu), excluding the occasional big tournament. Fans have been trying to get Hammer to open up about his love life, something he never was very open about. He says he has nothing to hide, but he doesn't feel the need to publicize this particular part about his life as much as others. He recently statd there is indeed someone special, but has not specified whether or not there is an actual relationship. In-ring * Finishing moves * Jackknife powerbomb * Torture rack * Signature/most common moves * Def Slam (inverted F-5 converted into an inverted DiamondCutter) * Judo throw * Martial arts high kick * Gorilla press slam * Big boot * Backbreaker * Side effect * Superkick * frog splash * flying headscissors * Triangle hold * Bearhug *Double-underhook piledriver * Nicknames * The Midwest Madman * Entrance songs (in chronological order) * Snoop Dogg: "Drop It Like It's Hot" - CCW * LL Cool J: "Mama Said Knock You Out" - CCW, AW, WEF, BCW, WWG * Bone Crusher: "Never Scared" - CCW * Jim Jones: "We Fly High" (Ballin') - UWE, UFN * Pennywise: "Bro Hymn" (once, to celebrate the Anaheim Ducks' Stanley Cup victory) - UWE * Fat Joe: "Take A Look At My Life" - UFN, UWE * B Real/Busta Rhymes/Method Man/Coolio/LL Cool J: "Hit 'em High" - UWE (most recent) Championships and accomplishments * ArenaWrestle * AW Hardcore Championship (1 reign) * AW Tag-Team Championship (1 reign, with Mike Lightning, Hammer's longest reign) * AW National Championship (1 reign) * Chevelle Championship Wrestling * CCW Revolutionary Championship (2 reigns) * CCW R-X Championship (merged with Revolutionary Championship, 1 reign) * CCW EverChanging Championship (2 reigns) Trivia * Hammer is an avid sports fan, especially of the St. Louis/Los Angeles teams, including the Rams (football), Cardinals/Angels (baseball) and Blues/Kings (ice hockey). He would wear their jerseys frequently to the ring, although at times he would wear jerseys of teams local to where he was wrestling. * Hammer was once stabbed during a match in CCW's underground era. He had stabbed his opponent's hand, pinning it to a pool table with a pocket knife. He had walked a few feet away to catch his breath, when his opponent freed himself, pulled out a butterfly knife, and stabbed Hammer in his upper leg. Despite the injury, Hammer competed the next week, although he lost, obviously because of the injury. * Hammer is responsible for bringing his friend John Adelsberger into the wrestling scene, starting with ArenaWrestle. John has improved since. * Hammer has a deep respect toward Cory Chevelle. From Hammer's earliest CCW run, he has always had a great deal of respect toward him, even fearing him somewhat, after witnessing Cory kill Dan Sagara.